Announcements -
Latest News

04/05/19 - More used folding kayaks added Includes Kleppers, a Pouch RZ85, and a rare LFB Stern WZ60 complete with original sail rig

04/05/19 - More vintage paddles added. Original two piece wooden vintage paddles in various conditions here

20/03/19 - Incredible find! A rare UNUSED 1960's Klepper Aerius II for sale ! Found during a recent house clearance sale - in mint condition. See here - SOLD

19/11/17 - new 'kid on the block' - Neris SMART Series of kayaks. Unique hybrids that can either be paddled as a canoe with bench seats or as a kayak with inflatable floor seats. A cross between a folding kayak and an inflatable kayak. Starting with SMART-2 here

17/11/17 - new range of Greenland paddles added - Gram Kajak paddles. In 2-3 piece in both wood and carbon versions. Appearing on the 'New Paddles' page here

02/03/17 - Product Videos page added. Videos of some of the listed folding kayaks ... see here

Can we paddle anywhere?
In the UK, you need a license to paddle in most of the waterways, rivers, lakes, etc.
BCU membership (Canoe England, Canoe Wales, Scotland Canoe Association and the Canoe Association of Northern Ireland) includes a license to paddle on 5000km of Britain's waterways and canals.

Not all inland water is open to canoeists, some are privately owned or is bounded by land which is private, so do check beforehand. See Useful Websites page.

If you have an old or damaged German Klepper Aerius I, Klepper Aerius II, Blauwal 4, German Pouch / Poucher, French Nautiraid, American Long Haul, Canadian Feathercraft, British Tyne, Granta, ex-Soviet kayaks like Salut-2 and -3, Taimen-2 and -3...... to name a few......, ..... and need the skin / hull to be repaired or replaced.... We can provide replacement skins for most makes of kayaks. Rebuild, re-skin, refurbish, recondition your beloved kayak with a high quality make-over! If you are not sure of your particular kayak model or variant, you can email us photos of the kayak / frame. It is important that that the frame is correctly identified before we can work on quotes. Replacement skins with canvas decks and TPU, CSM / Hypalon hulls will be made by one of our suppliers of choice (Heise Faltboote, Klepper, M Kajaki, Wayland, etc) depending on the requirements and budget, whilst PVC replacement skins will be done by NERIS. All are experienced craftsmen who have been producing skins in those respective materials for more than 12 years.

STOCK ON HAND - NEW Replacement 'Classic' skin for Klepper Aerius I 490 single seater "Klepper Blue" deck, CSM hull. 4 x 6cm keelstrips Prices £1000.00 (Skin only) £1450.00 (Skin and new frame) £1250.00 (Skin and used frame) Contact us for more details

For old kayaks, Craftsmens uses original frames as templates to make the replacement skins rather than work from cut-out templates/patterns - this ensures an accurate fit. The craftmen that we use to make replacement skins, respectively do have their own collection of the most common frames but where they do not have your particular model kayak, then your frame may need to be sent to us. A short list of available frames is shown below. It is possible that where the original skin / model did not have integrated bow to stern air sponsons, that sponsons be fitted into the new replacement skin on request. Discuss this with us - this depends on the structure / design of the existing frame. Partial skin replacements is also available. EG keep existing hull but replace entire upper deck, or vice versa.

Prices - complete replacement skins
Basic = plain deck & no keel strips, additional features on request. Price excludes shipping, includes VAT
Replacement skins are made to order (is not normally stocked)